


1/216

by spacedaydreamer



Series: safe end!junpei au [9]
Category: Zero Escape (Video Games), Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Time for the anthropic principal!, aka zero teaching you the true meaning of 'unfair', alcohol use; drunk jumpy is in this and i love him, safe end!junpei au, safe end!ztd au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-18
Updated: 2017-02-18
Packaged: 2018-09-25 06:16:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9806810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacedaydreamer/pseuds/spacedaydreamer
Summary: Ninety minutes was both a very long and very short period of time. And yet, there was an infinity of unfortunate timelines that split out from this one point, as much as Junpei wished otherwise.





	1. Observed Life

When Junpei awoke, he found himself inside the rec room, lying on the floor. He got up quickly and started to look around- Aoi and Carlos were still out, lying down on the other side of the room. He tried the door, but no luck. Well, at least there was plenty here to do… he turned to look when he heard a pair of quiet groans, indicating that Carlos and Aoi had woken up.

“Good morning, sleep well?”

Aoi rolled his eyes at the question, and went straight to checking his bracelet. Clearly, he didn’t like what he saw.

“No way… it’s already the new year.”

“Huh?”

Junpei and Carlos checked the time on their own bracelets, and he almost did a double-take. It was indeed after midnight…

“Damn… that means we slept for ten and a half hours?”

“Well, not necessarily… it’s possible we got up a ton of times, and just forgot them all. You know, because of the drugs in the bracelet?”

Aoi sighed, and continued talking.

“For all we know, something horrible’s happened, and we’ve got no idea. There’s no way to tell from here, at least…”

“Well, we won’t be getting out to check any time soon. The door’s locked, I already looked.”

None of them really knew what to say, so they dispersed about the room. Junpei ended up leaning on the bar, examining the wall of alcohol behind it.

“How about a drink, then? To pass the time.”

“Junpei, we only have ninety minutes-“

“I was kidding, Carlos.”

The last thing he wanted was to get drunk right now. Maybe, if things had been a little brighter, he could’ve had a casual drink, but with this mood… getting drunk would just lead to him saying things that he’d regret.

“Still, Junpei, when you said drink, did you mean-“

“Well, I _am_ 22, Aoi. I’m not a kid anymore.”

Aoi shook his head and crossed his arms, clearly not too happy with Junpei’s answer.

“Look, I’m not the idiot kid that Akane told you about anymore. I’ve changed.”

“Is that so…”

There was something strange about how Aoi said it. He looked sad… wistful, almost. Junpei honestly didn’t know why he would care- Junpei had ruined Aoi’s life. There was no reason for him to feel anything besides hatred or disgust towards him, so why…?

“It’s true… looks, tastes, other superficial things… all of those change with time. But, there’s still a part of you that’s _you_ , Junpei. I know I didn’t meet you until last year, but still… I can see the part of you that she remembered.”

Junpei didn’t know what to say to that. Aoi was being nice- so nice, that it almost hurt. He looked away from the other to stare again at the wall of alcohol, just anything to get Aoi out of his line of sight.

“Funny… I wouldn’t have imagined you’d want to hold onto any memories of her talking about me.”

“Junpei…”

“I… no, never mind.”

He subconsciously slid his hand into his pocket, feeling the small box he kept hidden there. He couldn’t tell Aoi now. He couldn’t say anything now.

“Junpei, let me tell you something. Say what you need to, while there’s time to say it.”

Carlos leant against the bar beside him, and spoke as if he’d read his mind. Junpei gave a tired grin in spite of himself- was he that easy to read, or was Carlos just naturally talented in this sort of thing? Who really knew, in the end.

“C’mon, you’re making it sound like I’m some brat who lies to himself.”

He wasn’t lying to himself… no, the truth was, Junpei was just scared. He’d come here to do one thing, but now that he was here... he was terrified. He wanted to know the answer more than anything, but he also absolutely didn’t want to know.

Carlos shook his head gently, then smiled again at Junpei.

“That’s not it. Once… once, I wasn’t able to save my parents, because of my inexperience. I was only eighteen, and had only just passed the test- I’d come home after buying a birthday present for my sister, and at that time, I was there before the firefighters had arrived…”

He looked down, a sad smile on his face.

“I managed to save my sister, but not my mother and father. It was because of them that I managed to become a firefighter, but I never got to thank them…”

Carlos looked around the room, getting an embarrassed look when he saw Junpei and Aoi’s faces.

“Whoops… looks like I kinda brought the mood down, huh? Anyways, I just wanted to say- I don’t want the two of you to have any regrets. Say what you can, while you’re still alive.”

“Still alive…”

Junpei mimicked Carlos’s words, deep in thought. He understood the message, but it was far easier said than done. He still couldn’t do it, not now. Even if he was going to regret that… he still couldn’t do it now.

“Ugh, guys, don’t say that. It’s bad luck.”

“Heh, good point… well, first, let’s find a way out of here. That’s the first step to staying alive.”

They all nodded, and turned to look at the room. Even if Junpei wasn’t quite ready yet, he’d still be able too soon… maybe- maybe if they made it out of here, then he’d consider it.

Junpei headed off to look at one of the armour suits first- it was holding something. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was a fire poker.

“What could this be used for…?”

Aoi shrugged, but Carlos was examining something on the floor. After a quick moment, he motioned Junpei over, asking for the poker. Junpei had no reason to refuse, so he handed it over, and Carlos got to work opening up the trap door. Inside was only a small cubby hole, but there was a set of numbers on the backside of the door, and a wooden hammer inside.

“5564X…. what could that be?”

None of them knew, so they went back to searching. Carlos had taken the hammer, and had started examining the table, when a sudden gasp drew Junpei and Aoi’s attention.

“N-no way!”

“What? Carlos, is everything ok?”

“This jam! It’s JAM 100(%) pure!”

Junpei could hear Aoi breath out a sigh of relief, but he only had a blank stare for Carlos.

“Really? That was it?”

“No, you don’t get it- I used to buy this jam for my sister all the time, she loved it. ‘Take some in the morning and you’ll be strong and beautiful inside _and_ out! JAM 100(%) pure!’ I’d hear her quote that ad all the time…”

Carlos had a pleasant look on his face, but Junpei was squinting at him. He’d somehow managed to make his voice go uncomfortably high- it made him mildly uncomfortable to hear that tone of voice out of the other. Well, maybe less uncomfortable and more greatly confused? Junpei would’ve imagined it’d actually _hurt_ to get your voice to go that high, especially for someone with a deeper-sounding voice like Carlos.

“It’s great that you’ve got fond memories, but please never make your voice do that ever again.”

He felt a flick to the back of his skull- Aoi, definitely.

“ _Anyways_ , that sounds like a commercial aimed at little girls. I wonder if Akane would’ve liked it…”

The last part was whispered, quietly enough that Carlos would never hear. Junpei figured he wasn’t meant to hear either, so he didn’t comment.

“Ah, JAM 100(%) pure… I never thought I’d see it again.”

Carlos took a few more moments to examine the jam, before looking at what was on the rest of the table. Junpei looked away and started examining around the fireplace, finding a little jar of oil on top. The label read _‘OIL 130(ml)’_ ; and Junpei couldn’t help but find that odd. Why was the measurement in parentheses? Well, they’d probably figure it out soon enough.

“All right, I got it!”

The exclamation came from Carlos behind him, eyes shining. He’d opened the chess board, and with it, gotten some wooden tube. It appeared there’d been a puzzle on it, leading to Carlos getting a round coin- it reminded Junpei a little too much of the casino room in Building Q. Actually, the more he thought about it, this whole room was a bit too familiar for his liking. The suits of armor, the cards… hell, there was even a slot machine! He knew it was likely just coincidence- all of those things were common for rec rooms, but it still made him a bit uncomfortable. After all, it reminded him of Snake… Junpei shook off the memories before they would work their way to the surface. Now was no time to let himself get depressed, now was a time to find an exit.

Junpei turned to look around the room again, this time with his eye catching on a suit of armor. There was a card stuck inside, with letters colored in black and red. It reminded him a bit of a roulette table- wait, wasn’t there one of those in this room? A quick scan told him yes, there was indeed. A few of the numbers had been circled off, giving away the answer to the puzzle: SPIN. He input it to the other segment of the table, and the top detached, leaving them with that entire piece, and another coin.

“What could we possibly use a roulette wheel for?”

“…well, we could use it as a hat?”

Junpei gave Aoi a blank stare, who only gave him a small shrug in return.

“That’s just… stupid. Why would Zero do something like that?”

“Well, anyways, we know that it has to be used for something. Let’s just leave it here for now, ok?”

Carlos had cut into the conversation before any argument could arise, which was probably a good move in his part. They split up once again, back to looking individually. Junpei decided to turn back to the bar, and this time, it was his turn to yell.

“Aaah! It’s SUNSET 24!”

Carlos and Aoi had turned to look at him, and his eyes were shining as he held up the package. Neither of them looked too impressed, after they realized he was holding up a pack of cigarettes.

“Junpei, why are you so excited?”

“Don’t you know, Carlos? These are incredibly rare! You can’t find them _anywhere_ anymore. I even had the slogan memorized as a kid- ‘The setting sun at 24. A perfect match.’.”

“Always wanting to be cool… it’s just a cigarette, Junpei.”

“No, it’s just- don’t you _get_ it, Aoi?”

Junpei sighed, frustrated. He held no real opinion on smoking, for or against it. He _did_ know it was bad for him, but that was the entire reason he would do it from time to time anyways… still, it was hardly like he could have a smoke now. Maybe he could just pocket these, and take them outside? Yeah, if he was lucky, he could even get some decent money for an opened pack online…

Still, he had to focus. He slipped them into the pocket not containing the other box, and continued to look. There was a wooden box on the counter that he couldn’t open, and a pack of matches. He grabbed those too, and turned to find Aoi standing directly behind him, a look of disapproval on his face.

“Not going to try and light me on fire the next time we pass out or something, are you?”

“Are you an idiot? Of course not. We’re probably just going to need them for this room, is all.”

Light a person on fire- there was no way in hell Junpei could ever do something like that. Not after Akane, and definitely not after Light and Hongou… He again tried to push the memories down, deciding to go behind the counter to take a closer look at the alcohol stored there. Much to his surprise, there was something even more shocking than the cigarettes, that he’d missed the first time.

“SAD MAN 570… no way…”

His exclamation grew Carlos’s attention, who walked over to stand beside Junpei.

“There’s a legend about this bottle- you’re _never_ supposed to drink it. It’s so bad, that wine experts everywhere lose their will to live after drinking it…”

Junpei nodded enthusiastically, reaching for the bottle.

“It’s like Pandora’s Box, but with wine.”

Once he’d picked it up, he started looking around for a corkscrew, and Carlos took the chance to remove the bottle from Junpei’s hands, placing it on a higher shelf out of his reach.

“Are you seriously considering trying it, Junpei?”

“Oh, it’s not like I actually have any will to live left to lose. Just one little taste couldn’t hurt…”

From the reaction he got, it was clear that Carlos couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. Junpei himself wasn’t entirely sure either, but he was leaning towards not. Still, that would probably concern the others, so it was best to play it off as a joke.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Let’s just get back to finding a way out, how ‘bout?”

Carlos was still giving him a worried look, but nodded and went back to the search. Junpei was glad for that, because he wasn’t sure how he felt about this. For some reason, the feeling of Carlos being worried for him made him feel slightly… guilty, almost.

“Hey, Junpei. Think you could bring those matches over to the fireplace? And bring that wooden box, too.”

It was Aoi, beckoning him over. He had a glass bottle of water in his hands, and was looking at the firewood.

“I figure we can get whatever’s inside that box if we just burn it. Do the honors, Junpei?”

He sighed but obliged, watching as the wooden box burnt up quickly. As soon as it was done, Aoi doused the flame with the water, and reached to get the coin, but Junpei grabbed his hand.

“Idiot, it’s going to be hot. You’ll burn your hand.”

He was reminded of the time he’d attempted to grab one of the glass sheets back in the first class cabin, while the fire was still burning… not his brightest moment.

“Well then, where’s the fire poker?”

“Oh, I’ve still got it. One second.”

Carlos was finishing up with a puzzle on the slot machine, something with a bunch of blocks. As soon as he completed it (a heart, it looked like), he got a coin and a little card calendar. Once he’d collected his rewards, he walked back over and handed them the poker. They retrieved the coin (which was thankfully not _too_ hot), and all started over towards the jukebox. Still, despite that being their obvious destination, Junpei couldn’t help but notice the writing on the slot machine; odds = 35 (%).

“Oh, you noticed that too, Junpei? Know what it means?”

“Well, odds is usually how you explain win rates in gambling. But, it’s usually in percentages, not odds… maybe that’s why they have it in parentheses?”

Carlos and Aoi both shrugged, unsure.

“Still, you know a lot. Do you play slots often, Junpei?”

“Well, not really… mostly just a little horse racing, to let off steam, y’know? There was this odds 35 race, so I bet $100 on it, and…”

He’d lost it all, naturally.

“No need to be so hard on yourself, it happens. That’s the point with gambling, right?”

Carlos gave him a firm pat on the back, but he’d missed the real point. It wasn’t so much that Junpei exactly enjoyed or hated gambling- much like with the smoking, he _knew_ it was bad for him, and that’s why he did it. The feeling of winning was good, exciting even, but he hadn’t started gambling to win. It was much easier to get away with doing bad things to yourself when they weren’t visible, after all…

He forced himself to look at the jukebox, thinking about other things. Why was he getting so distracted? He wondered if it was because of the time- it was already 2029, maybe there was just a strange sense of hopelessness that came with ringing in the new year in a place like this.

“It says… JUKE 803.”

“What, no way! Carlos, do you know what that is?”

Carlos shook his head in response to Aoi’s question, giving a clear no as his answer.

“That’s the death model! It’s supposedly a cursed Jukebox that travels from bar to bar… at 8:03 exactly, it plays a song so depressing, that anyone who listens to it is compelled to commit suicide. That’s how it got it’s nickname- Juky, the grim reaper of eight-oh-three!”

“That’s…”

“You killed it with that last line, Aoi.”

“Oh, what do you know. You’re always saying dumb shit, let me have my fun.”

Junpei just folded his arms in protest, and looked around the room. Saying dumb shit? Well, he’d just have to show them… he focused in on a metal plate on the wall, with a strange rust pattern. Well, it wasn’t _exactly_ perfect, but it was close enough… he gasped in shock, and pointed at the plate.

“N-no way! Is this… is this the Funyarinpa? I didn’t know it could be a copper plate!”

“Funyarinpa…?”

Yes, Carlos had taken the bait. Junpei supressed a gleeful smile, and turned on him quickly.

“What? Carlos, do you not know? Do you _seriously_ not know what the Funyarinpa is?

“U-um… am I supposed to?”

Junpei gave a sad, soft sigh, and shook his head.

“To think, you really don’t know…” His demeanor shifted again, and he pointed at Carlos with an accusatory stare. “Apologize! Say you’re sorry to the Funyarinpa! God, you are such a rude man…”

Carlos was looking back and forth between Junpei and Aoi, clearly too flustered to know what was going on.

“W-well, um…”

“Don’t, Carlos. He’s fucking with you.”

He blinked a couple times, then looked at Junpei, who only gave a shrug and a sly smile in response. Upon seeing that, Carlos sighed and turned back to the jukebox, perhaps just a touch irritated that he’d gotten caught up in Aoi and Junpei’s endless squabbling.

He didn’t wait for either of them before slipping the card calendar into the jukebox, setting a song up to play. As it came on, Junpei couldn’t help but listen. There was something so… melancholic, yet nostalgic about it. Perhaps it was the crackle of the record, or maybe it was something else, he didn’t know. The song just made him feel… sad. However, it was over before they knew it, leaving them all to stare at each other for a few seconds of silence. It seemed the song had hit the others as well, as neither said anything. It was Carlos who eventually broke the standstill, leaning over to pick up the dice Junpei hadn’t realized had been knocked out.

“Well, looks like there’s only really one thing left to look at…”

Carlos was staring at the last card table, with a house of cards balanced precariously on it. Everyone had been avoiding it, perhaps in subtle worry that it might be a trap, but there was nothing left for them to do. They all stood around the table, examining from a far- when without warning, the cards tumbled to the table.

They all froze, waiting for something to happen- but nothing did. They’d been worried over nothing, in the end. Aoi brushed the cards to the side with mild frustration, which turned to confusion when he realized that some of them weren’t moving.

“Oh, I get it… Zero wanted us to knock the cards over, so we’d notice these ones. Think you’re clever, huh…”

Junpei shrugged, but they got to work on figuring out the puzzle. It took them a while, but they eventually pieced together that they’d needed to use the card calendar, the card suits, and the various numbered objects from around the room in a math equation. Then, they’d needed to set the dice into a slot on the side. When they did that, they were rewarded with yet another coin- now, they had five.

They all looked to the machine with ‘collect five coins!’ labelled on it, and nodded. It was pretty straightforward what they had to do, so they simply did it. Once they did, the glass covering the button on top was lifted. It was incredibly suspicious, but it wasn’t like they had any options left- so Carlos pushed it.

The second he did, they all instantly regretted it.

The armour suits in the room all suddenly started folding back, each hiding a gun inside of them. They were some automatic thing- Junpei didn’t really care enough to decipher what _sort_ of gun it was, he was far more worried about the fact that they were there at all. _What the fuck was going on?!_

“The rules to the Decision Game… will now be explained.”

The voice was feminine and impersonal- definitely not Zero’s, but that hardly made it any better.

“This decision game uses the three dice… located during the room search. To begin this game, each player must take one die, and roll it on the dice table. If all dice show a ‘1’ on the side facing up, all players win. The door will unlock… and all the players will be able to escape the room. However… if even a single die does not display a ‘1’… all players will be gunned down.”

Junpei felt his heart stop. If even a _single die_ didn’t show a one? That was insane!

“This… this isn’t even a fucking game! What the hell _is_ this fucking shit?!”

He was yelling at the speakers in the ceiling, but the mechanical voice paid him no mind.

“The time limit… is one minute. If all of the dice are not rolled within that limit… all players will be gunned down. Those are all the rules. Good luck… to everyone.”

“Good luck? _Good luck?!_ ”

Junpei felt like his heart was going to burst from his chest from how fast it was beating. He looked to Carlos and Aoi, who had the exact same panic on their faces.

“Wh-what’re the odds?”

“What?”

“The odds! Of us getting all ones!”

Carlos looked like he was about to grab Aoi, who didn’t look any better off. He bit his lip but did the quick calculations, then tried and failed to hold back a look of dread as he gave the results.

“It’s 1/216, so…. We have about a 0.46 percent chance of getting it.”

“Are… are you fucking kidding me?”

Junpei could feel his hands shaking already. There was no way, no way, no _way_ that they’d be able to make it with a 0.46% chance of success. However, they had to try…

“Gatling guns operational in… thirty seconds.”

“ _Fuck!_ We have no time! Everyone, just grab one- we’ll just have to pray we get all ones.”

Carlos and Junpei nodded, and did as Aoi said- really, what did they have to lose? They either rolled the dice and lived, rolled the dice and died, or did nothing and died. At least if they rolled, they’d have a chance.

“Alright- on three. One, two, three…”

They threw the dice to the table, and watched.


	2. The 99.537% Reality

1…..

 

3….

 

5…..

 

Junpei stared at the results. What else could he do? They’d only gotten one of the die to show a 1, which meant-

Before he could even think, he heard the guns start moving.

“Sh-shit! No, that was- you wouldn’t mind a do-over, right Zero?”

“Y-yeah! My hand- my hand slipped! That’s all!”

They had all backed away from the table, but it was clear nobody was listening. Junpei looked around the room- was there a blind spot? Anywhere they could live through this? It was Carlos who spoke up, and broke the silence.

“The bar! Quick, get behind it!”

There was a chance… one of the guns was stationed directly in front of it, but maybe if they just laid flat enough, it wouldn’t hit them? Yeah, yeah! They just had to try! Junpei wasted no time as he ran for the bar, following hot on the heels of Carlos and Aoi. They were all pressing themselves up against the walls, hoping for the best- but then the guns started firing.

It wasn’t the first time Junpei had been shot, but it _was_ the first time he’d been shot so brutally.

The bullets tore through the bar like it was made of paper, and they continued through his body with ease. He wasn’t aware of when he’d started screaming in agony, but he heard Carlos and Aoi’s screams clear as a bell. He lasted longer than he’d expected to last, considering how many bullets had torn through his flesh- was this what it had felt like for Snake, then? No, that must have been different… Junpei found himself stuck in a lucid dream as he fell into the nothingness of death, unable to do anything besides watch the void as he dropped into darkness


	3. The Cruelest Reality

1…..

 

1…..

 

6…..

 

“Are you… are you fucking kidding me?”

Junpei stared at the dice on the table. He didn’t particularly believe in any god (it was hard be truly religious after you’d watched your own death countless times, after all), but if there _was_ a god out there then he was laughing at all of them. One number. They’d been one number off…

Memories flashed into Junpei’s mind, memories of a similar outcome. They’d gone behind the bar, but all of them died- wait, what if they tried again, but in a different position? Maybe Junpei could cover Aoi’s body, so then at least he’d make it out alright…

“Carlos! Aoi! Get behind the bar, now!”

He didn’t wait for the guns to start moving- he knew that they’d start up soon enough. It took the three of them only moments to get in position, but once they were, Junpei decided it was now or never- he grabbed Aoi by the shoulder and pulled his body in front of Junpei’s. Maybe, just maybe, this would work?

Well, of course it wouldn’t. When had things ever gone well for Junpei?

The bullets pierced his body with ease and continued through to Aoi, leaving both of them as little more than bloody piles of broken flesh and bone. The assault didn’t even stop when they’d all already died, continuing to desecrate their corpses as if to add insult to injury. By the time the guns finally quieted down, there was nothing left of any of them, all having been lost to the nothing that is death.


	4. The 0.46% Inequity

1.....

 

1......

 

1.........

 

Junpei stared, blinked, then stared some more.

 _They’d done it_.

Somehow, they’d _actually_ managed to throw all ones. He heard the doors opening, and he turned to Carlos and Aoi, eyes bright.

“Awww, _yes! Yes, **hell** yeah!_ ”

Junpei threw a fist triumphantly in the air, not caring how he looked. Who _cared_ if he looked like an idiot- they’d just survived _1/216 odds!_ Aoi and Carlos looked about as shocked and excited as he was, although maybe not as willing to express it.

“We’re alive! We’re _actually_ alive! Yeaaaah!”

He looked back and forth between the others, not caring enough to hide the excited grin on his face. He looked like a kid who’d just gotten the one thing they’d always wished for on their birthday, but cranked up to 500- maybe, in a way, that was accurate.

“Why are you two just _standing_ there? Guys, it’s 1/216! We just got a _miracle!_ ”

“Y-yeah.. you’re right.”

“I just… can’t believe it.”

Carlos and Aoi had hardly moved, but Aoi in particular was staring at Junpei with a funny look on his face. They way he spoke, it was more like he couldn’t believe _Junpei_ , rather than he couldn’t believe the odds.

“So… we’re alive, right?”

“Of _course_ we’re alive! What, do I look like a ghost to you, Carlos? Or an undead zombie? If I was, then my heart wouldn’t be pounding a mile a minute right now.”

He turned and headed for the door, walking with enthusiasm he hadn’t felt since he was a kid.

“Come on, let’s _blow_ this popsicle stand! We’ve _definitely_ gotta have a toast back at the lounge.”

He was already halfway there, but he realized that Aoi and Carlos weren’t following. Well, it was their loss- he was too damn happy to care.

“What are you guys waiting for! C’mon, hurry up or I’ll start without you!”

He didn’t hear any movement even after he called back to them, so he shrugged and continued forwards to the lounge. There was alcohol stored behind the bar counter there, and he made a beeline straight for it- screw his earlier worries, if there was ever a time for a celebratory buzz, now was it. Besides, he wouldn’t get too drunk off one beer- maybe a bit tipsy, but nothing he couldn’t control himself with. He’d be more than sober enough to pay attention to what he was saying.

He’d already made himself comfortable on one of the couches with an opened bottle when Aoi and Carlos came back into the lounge, and he gestured for the two of them to join. He didn’t wait to see if either of them were actually going to drink as well, taking a long swig before looking up to find the both of them watching him.

“Aha, nothing beats a cold one after a close call… c’mon, are neither of you going to join me?”

He tried to ignore the staring- it made him a bit uncomfortable, the way the both of them watched with mild concern evident on their faces. Was he not allowed to celebrate, or something?

“I’m really… not in the mood for it.”

Aoi especially had an odd look on his face. He was smiling, but his eyes didn’t look happy. Junpei knew the look all to well, considering he wore it often enough.

“For real?! Are you serious?”

“Hold up, Junpei- are you drunk already?”

He laughed, and turned to look at Carlos. There was still a large grin on his face, but the knot of discomfort in his stomach wouldn’t leave. No, now wasn’t a time to be a worrier, Junpei. Don’t make them worry.

“Yeah I am, drunk on _life!_ I am _buzzed_ on this kickass feeling of surviving the impossible.”

“You… probably shouldn’t drink _too_ much, Junpei…”

“We’re just going to conk out again in forty minutes, Aoi. Why _shouldn’t_ we be celebrating this? You guys are the weird ones, here.”

Despite his words, he found himself setting his beer down onto the coffee table. He just couldn’t ignore the nagging feeling anymore, that something was up. It was obvious something was bothering Aoi, and Carlos was clearly off put by something too. For all his efforts and insistence otherwise, Junpei actually did care about the emotions of others, and now that the mood had turned, he couldn’t avoid them any longer.

“We lived through 0.46% odds, guys- what’s there to be upset about? We’re _alive_ \- we’re actually alive, despite everything.”

“A miracle… huh? It definitely would be, if it happened on the first try.”

“Huh? Aoi, what are you… saying…”

He trailed off when he spoke, as memories flashed through his mind. The majority of them were just pain, and red. Bullets tearing through flesh, screams ringing in his ears, the hopelessness of the 99% reality crushing down on his soul.

Oh.

He didn’t laugh, but he wanted to. It should have been obvious from the start, really. Of _course_ they’d died in the decision game. It was stupid to think that they hadn’t, really. Even if it was a different Junpei, Aoi, and Carlos, it was still them. Up until they’d rolled the dice, they were the same people- but now, there were 215 other versions of themselves, all ending up with a fate of execution via gatling gun. They were the one timeline where things had gone well, but Junpei didn’t feel excited about that anymore. Sure, _this_ version of Aoi was alive, but what about all the others? He knew it was futile, but knowing that he’d failed literally hundreds of times… he couldn’t prevent the scowl that worked its way onto his face.

“Look, Aoi. We only threw the dice once.”

Aoi could tell that Junpei didn’t believe his own words, but he wasn’t saying them for Aoi’s sake. It was more for Carlos- he wasn’t really a part of all their morphogenetic field bullshit, so why worry him? Still, Aoi shook his head.

“Are you _sure_ about that, Junpei? I think, in reality, we’ve rolled the dice over, and over. We just don’t remember. For example- if we threw them three times, the probability goes to 72 to 1. Still bad odds… but no longer a miracle.”

“Aoi, that doesn’t matter. We only rolled the dice once, remember?”

‘ _And please, don’t remember the countless times we were gunned down_.’

“Junpei is right, Aoi… so what are you trying to say?”

“Carlos, let’s say you had to roll ten dice, and get each one of them to show a one. Do you think you could do it?”

“Well, of course not. That’s basically impossible.”

“Yeah, because the odds are 60,466,176 to 1. However, if you rolled the dice 60,466,176 times… it no longer seems that impossible, right?”

Carlos crossed his arms and nodded in thought, looking to the side. Aoi took the chance to look at Junpei again, this time with a question for him.

“And Junpei. If I told you that you had to win a rock paper scissors tournament against 2 to the power of 100 other people, how would you feel?”

“Well, I’d hardly expect to win. I’d have to win a hundred matches, that’d be near impossible.”

“Right- but there _will_ be a winner. There _will_ be one person who wins those 100 matches. Do you guys know what I’m trying to say?”

“The person who won, won… but only because of circumstance?”

“Exactly, Carlos.”

Aoi nodded, but Junpei didn’t know where he was going with this. What could he be trying to say? The principle itself was simple, straightforward even, but Aoi was as confusing as always.

“The one who lives on, does so due to circumstance.”

“The anthropic principal…”

“So, you’ve heard of it?”

“Yeah, kinda. It’s connected to the many worlds interpretation, right?”

Aoi nodded, and continued to talk. If possible, it felt as though the mood had gotten even more dreary- amazing, really. They’d gone from being on top of the world, to this. Or maybe it should have been expected, considering they were still trapped in this shelter.

“This world is a little too well-suited to human beings, don’t you think? For example, they say if Jupiter was just a little bit smaller, then the earth wouldn’t have formed at all. There’s constants throughout the universe as well, that are just a bit _too_ convenient.”

“Urgh… look, fine. But anyone can see that we _do_ exist.”

“And that’s exactly the point. We exist, therefore we _know_ we exist. There’s got to be countless universes out there where the mere idea of humans didn’t even begin. Because there’s no humans alive in those universes, we can’t observe them. Therefore, _this_ is our universe.”

“Yeah… I think I get what you’re trying to say. There could be an infinite number of histories out there, where we were executed… but we don’t know, because we’re dead in those histories. And the dead can’t observe the world.”

Carlos was half-right. They _were_ dead in those histories, but they weren’t lost forever. Oh no, Junpei was painfully aware of that fact. The memories were stuck in his mind permanently now, of hundreds of failed dice rolls from the fraction of a second before he died, and an infinite loop of the feeling of bullets tearing through flesh and bone.

“Or, on the other hand, there’s probably universes even better suited to human life as well. Maybe there’s one not limited by gravity, where people can travel faster than the speed of light. There could be all sorts of universes like that, where maybe, humans and aliens are able to interact… we don’t know for sure that it doesn’t exist. Perhaps this universe is one that was never meant to exist at all…”

Neither Carlos or Junpei had anything to say in response to that, yet Aoi kept talking regardless.

“Maybe… maybe this universe was never meant to exist at all. We… might exist in the universe god abandoned.”

Junpei stood up, and walked away.

“Hey, where are you going? What’s wrong, Junpei?”

“I get it. I was an idiot for thinking we got lucky.”

“Junpei, that’s not what I-“

“Shut up, Aoi. But you know, you are right about one thing.”

“Huh?”

“If there is a god, he hasn’t just abandoned us. He’s fucking forgotten about us entirely. There’s no other excuse… no other reason this timeline exists. You know it too Aoi, so don’t try to deny it- this timeline only exists for one reason, and once we served our purpose, we were forgotten about. _Abandoned_ implies that some god once found us important enough or distasteful enough to leave behind. We’re not even that much, we’re just pawns of a larger scheme who were never important enough to be remembered.”

He knew that if he didn’t go through his version of the nonary game, then it would be impossible for Akane Kurashiki to live on any timeline. He _knew_ that, but it didn’t make things any better. It didn’t change the deaths that he’d seen, it didn’t change the cruel hand he’d been dealt by fate. Sometimes he wondered if she’d even loved him at all, or he’d only ever just been a means to an end- he didn’t know, and he didn’t think he wanted to know.

He didn’t bother to look for Carlos and Aoi’s reactions after his outburst, and continued to walk over to the bar, taking a seat at the counter. He wasn’t going to drink, definitely not now… he just wanted to be away from them. He didn’t want to look at either of them. There was the chance of anger, or confusion, but the reaction he was most worried about was sadness. To make someone angry is something that you can deal with, but to worry them? To disappoint them? That was far, far harder for Junpei to come to terms with.

None of them said anything for some time, all sitting in silence until the voice of the announcer came on to break it.

“Now announcing… the current casualties. Q-team: Q, Mira, Eric. D-team: Diana, Sigma. These five… are now deceased. As a result… fixe X-passes… will be revealed. EYE… KILL… FOOL… MOON… FATE… That is all.”

“So then… only Phi is still alive with D-team?”

Junpei had turned to look over at the others when the announcement came on, and now Aoi was staring at the ground. Junpei couldn’t see his face from here, but judging by his tone of voice, it wasn’t happy…

“In the end, it looks like we’re the ones with the best luck…”

“Huh?”

Aoi and Carlos both looked at him, but it was the latter who was talking.

“Junpei… what do you mean.”

It was phrased like a command, not a question, and for half a second Junpei wondered if he shouldn’t explain.

“Five X-passes were released, so only one more person needs to die, and then-“

He stopped talking when he felt a fist make contact with his face, throwing him sideways from the sudden force. He looked up holding his cheek, to find Aoi staring at him, enraged.

“What the _fuck_ , Junpei? Are you saying you just want Phi to die?”

He blinked- oh, Aoi had misunderstood him. It was probably for the best that he didn’t try to correct him… he just straightened up and shrugged, which only seemed to make Aoi angrier.

“How _could_ you?”

“She’s basically a stranger, Aoi.”

“You’re disgusting.”

Again, Junpei could only shrug in response. He felt a shiver run down his spine when Aoi spoke to him, but he said nothing- if he said something, then he might break. And if he broke, then they’d never let him do what he was about to do…

Junpei turned and started off for the pantry, but he only made it a couple steps before he felt himself getting pulled. No, it wasn’t like being pulled- this was like being pushed, being violently thrown from his body and into another. Was he spectating? No, this wasn’t dissociation, because he could _move_. He was in control of this body, which meant only one thing: SHIFT.

Had… had another version of himself somehow managed to SHIFT?

He took a second to look, before the reality of where and when he was came crashing down. He was in the fireplace in the rec room, with Carlos pressed on top of him and Aoi below him. There were tears streaming down Aoi’s face, and he looked furious. It seemed that Carlos and Junpei were going to sacrifice themselves to save Aoi… not ideal, but at least he would live. Aoi could live. In at least one of these cursed 99% realities, Aoi would be alive… when he thought about it like that, Junpei was alright with it. Aoi was screaming something at him, but his mind was still moving too slowly to really comprehend- all he could do was try to smile, try to give Aoi one last second of comfort- and then bullets pierced flesh once again, and he was nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact, the rolls in this fic are based on a true story. The first time I played ZTD I got 1-x-y on my first roll and no ones on the second, and while replaying for this fic, I actually managed to roll 1-1-6. I even screencapped it, i was so in shock. I don't think it's possible to get all ones before your third roll, but all i could think of was how horridly unfair it must've looked to the three in the game.
> 
> Have I ever mentioned that I love Junpei? Because I do. I purposely just went and listened to him say "Yeah I am, drunk on life!" over and over again, because I adore that line read. He's grumpy and been through hell, but he's still the Junpei we know and love when it gets down to it. 
> 
> And, I'm sure you all know what happened at the end there already, but regardless it was still fun to write instead of the cutoff that the game gives. I've had a lot of ideas for this particular fragment for a while, but there might be a bit of a delay before the next one- I need to watch back to the future first, as well as play the fragment. Can't have a discussion about your BttF headcanons if you've never seen the movie, after all.
> 
> so, thanks again for reading, as usual! Things are heating up, there's a lot of plot happening and it's making me very happy as a fic author.


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